Deckard's Memory
May. 8th, 2015 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thankyou4myheart"Guys, incoming in five…"
Deckard glanced up from his computer and over at Shadowmaru.
"…four…"
From the grimace on the ninja detective's face, Deckard didn't have to ask. He felt his shoulders tighten.
"…three…"
And now Deckard could hear the footsteps.
"…two…"
Deckard turned in time to see Yuuta flinch, then grimace, as he too caught the stomping stride of expensive dress shoes. The tension in the room ratcheted from a two to a ten in an instant.
"…and one-"
"Inspector Tomonaga!"
The whole team jumped despite being braced as Vice-Commissioner Azuma flung open the door and crossed to Yuuta's desk on the second-story platform of their bullpen, his disapproving glower in its best form yet.
Staring down his nose at Yuuta, Azuma demanded, " You asked the commissioner to cancel the upgrade!?"
The Gunpulator System. It was an upgrade that had been revealed to the team yesterday. On the surface, it seemed like a good idea – a firing system that would raise everyone's marksmanship to perfection. And weren't "machines" supposed to perform flawlessly? That was Azuma's thinking, certainly. Never mind that nobody on Deckard's team shot below 98.5% accuracy as it was. Their best was better than any human's, and it still wasn't good enough. That alone was enough to dismay and upset everyone, but the application made it downright horrific. Installing the system meant permanent amputation of an entire limb to install the gun-arm, plus what amounted to brain surgery to integrate the control system. Though they'd been assured that it wouldn't affect or interfere with their Super AI chips, the truth was, no one was actually sure of that. Who knew what it would have done to them?
"Yes, I did," Yuuta was saying. " Saejima-san has requested to abort-"
"I'm hearing none of it!” Azuma’s angry looming made Yuuta hunch back and down. “Inspector Tomonaga, I demand an explanation."
What could he say? "Everyone opposed the idea." Yuuta looked up and out at Deckard and the rest of the team.
The momentarily stunned look on Azuma's face told Deckard that that possibility probably hadn't even crossed the man's mind. "What?" He too looked up at everyone – Deckard felt his shoulders tighten further – then dismissed them to turn back to Yuuta. "That's not a valid reason!"
Deckard knew he shouldn't speak up without permission, but he couldn't hold his silence any longer. "Vice-Commissioner Azuma," he started, stepping forward. When he had the man's attention, he continued. "It is perfectly understandable that you'd be upset." Actually, what he wanted to say was that the man was being completely unreasonable-
He heard Dumpson step up behind him. "But we just can't."
Power Joe shifted up next to his brother, echoing him. "We just can't accept that."
"We don't want it," Drill Boy chimed in, "and that's that."
Shadowmaru nodded. "Yep, that sums it up."
Azuma growled, turning more fully to them. "I'm asking you to explain so that we can understand!"
Deckard felt his fists ball up. What's there to explain? We shouldn't have to!
But that was the proper permission they'd needed to really express themselves, and McCrane did so as succinctly as ever.
"Our Super AI has given us personalities. We are not just machines."
Gunmax was more blunt and nonchalant, as always, shrugging. "Changing our parts just like that doesn't quite suit us."
"We don't want to be treated like objects," Duke added, shifting up beside the biker detective.
Deckard nodded. "We told this to Boss."
"Do you have any idea what you're talking about?" Azuma demanded. "This system would give you robot police 100% accuracy."
"We are aware of that, but-"
"Well, let me tell you. You may have personalities, but still, you are not humans!"
Deckard rocked back on his heels at that, stunned into silence. Not that he'd ever had any question of what the vice-commissioner thought of them, but hearing it spoken outright hurt. More than he would have expected.
Yuuta stood scowling in silent fury at the man.
Azuma noticed and turned just enough to look sidelong down at him. "Is there something wrong with what I said?"
Deckard saw his partner hunch at that, glowering. He didn't respond right away. Maybe he was forming a retort, or maybe he just couldn't answer – Deckard would never know.
WOOM-WOOM-WOOM An alarm sounded suddenly, demanding the team's attention. Everyone shifted around to the massive monitor dominating the wall on the other side of the room. Through smoke and fire, Deckard could make out rows of silos in the video, with some kind of robot tanks approaching the camera – mounted on one of the police scout drones, if he had to guess. The squat attack robots each sported mounted weapons on either side of the body – the limbs looked uncomfortably familiar.
"Suspicious robots sighted at an unmanned plant in the bay area." Deckard recognized the voice as one of the men in Dispatch. "I repeat…"
The team mobilized without a word, grateful for the distraction. Anything to get away from Azuma.
============================
Deckard shifted to bipedal mode as soon as Yuuta was clear of his cab, grimacing at his earlier eagerness for "any" distraction. Considering what these drones were equipped with, he almost preferred to let Azuma harangue and insult them some more.
Then again, this at least, they were allowed to defend themselves and fight back.
"He's got the Gunpulator System," Yuuta reminded Deckard and the rest of the team as they shifted to bipedal mode around him.
'He' was Edgar Popkins, the creator of the awful system…and the one responsible for turning these drones loose on the warehouse district of Tokyo Bay in retaliation for the Brave Police rejecting his "babies". It seemed he was determined to pit his system against the robot detectives.
Grim, Deckard nodded. "We're aware of that, Yuuta." He drew his pistol, his team following suit. He felt his co-lead, Duke, at his back. It helped reassure him a little. Shadowmaru had split off to find Popkins and arrest him before he could escape while the others dealt with the drones themselves. Deckard looked around at the remainder of his team, refusing to think too much about what they were about to face. He saw the same hard determination that he felt reflected back in every face. "Get moving!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Go, guys!" he heard Yuuta call after them as the team bolted into the maze of warehouses. "You can do it!"
To cover more ground, the team split into pairs. Duke had stayed with Deckard, and together, they crept along an alley between warehouses. Deckard paused when he spotted the red glow of optical scanners up ahead. "Duke!"
"Got it!"
The two fired off covering shots, the rapports echoing off the walls around them, as they separated to duck behind corners on either side of the alley.
"Hit any?" Deckard asked.
"Unfortunately, no."
Deckard listened for enemy movement. A moment of tense silence ensued, followed by two shots fired by the drones still down the alley. Pain bloomed without warning as a shot impossibly raked through Deckard’s flank, the damage report flashing red across his HUD. He heard Duke cry out too as the second shot also hit home. But…but how?
Before Deckard could figure that out, the air filled with the rapports of gunfire from both sides and cries of pain, disbelief, and anger from his teammates. He twisted and dodged, firing back as best he could and feeling like he couldn’t even get close. The drones remained somewhere ahead of them, evident from the sounds of their gunfire, but Deckard and his team were getting pounded as if from all sides. That damned Gunpulator System’s “100% accuracy” didn’t just mean on straightaways – the shots were bouncing along crazy angles to hit them from around corners, from above, even from behind!
One shot pounded Deckard’s shoulder from the back, knocking him off his feet. He hit the ground and rolled to his stomach, pistol braced out before him in both hands as he returned fire. This wasn’t working. They needed a new strategy. “Everyone, pull back!”
He heard his team obey amid growls of frustration. Heading for their rendezvous point, Deckard passed between buildings in time to spot Drill Boy and McCrane on the other side. Urging Drill Boy to go, the combat specialist pulled his jerry can from his hip compartment and threw it like a grenade. It exploded like one too, when a shot from the mindless drones ignited the gasoline within. Under the cover of the blast, the Brave Police units were able to regroup.
Hidden for the moment in a side alley near the edge of the warehouse district, Deckard looked over his team. His co-lead, Duke, stood off his left shoulder. Before them, McCrane, Power Joe, Dumpson, Drill Boy, and Gunmax were all on their knees, everyone looking battered and haggard. If Deckard was honest with himself, he wanted little more than to join them as they caught their figurative breaths, but he had to remain strong as an example for his teammates. He suspected Duke was doing the same, though the two of them just as injured and worn as the rest. “Everyone okay?”
Gunmax glanced around and nodded, his usual swagger gone from his voice. “Yeah, somehow.”
“That smokescreen won’t keep them away for long,” McCrane observed.
Deckard started to reply, but two loud, quick beeps interrupted him, followed by Yuuta’s voice.
“Deckard!”
Deckard pulled out his badge, flipping it open to answer the comm. “Yuuta.”
“Shadowmaru has caught our man, but his robots can't be stopped. It seems like the only way is to destroy them.”
Deckard heard manic laughter, followed by a new voice – Popkins. “We will all die if they dare.”
Yuuta’s gasp was audible over the comm. “Eh!?”
“My babies are laden with high explosives. Try to blow up even a single one… They're each powerful enough to send this entire complex up in smoke!”
“What!? Why on Earth are you doing this?”
Popkins laughed again. “If the Brave Police are indeed stronger than my babies, you, I, and all of the Brave Police are going to die!” He broke into laughter once more, sounding completely unhinged.
“R-rubbish!” Yuuta’s voice was strained.
“Mini-Boss.” That was Shadowmaru. “I just took a polygraph. He isn't lying.”
“What?” Yuuta cried.
Deckard felt the servos in every joint in his body threaten to seize at that. But if we don’t destroy them, they’ll just continue to rampage, and they won’t stay confined to the unmanned parts of the city!
“So what should we do?” Yuuta wanted to know, sounding desperate.
Popkins has made this a suicide mission, whether we beat him or not. Deckard glanced up from his badge to Duke, then the others. “Suggestions, everyone?” He might be about to lead his team to their deaths, but not without their input at the very least.
Duke took a brief glance around before replying. “I suppose we're all thinking of the same thing.”
McCrane nodded. “We will defeat them on our own.”
“Of course!” Power Joe rejoined.
“Definitely!” “You betcha!” Dumpson and Drill Boy sounded in.
Gunmax’s usual cocky, wry grin was back in force. “Shame on the Brave Police if we try to run!”
“Guys…” Deckard’s heart had never been fuller for his team. The thought of losing even one of them was almost too much to bear – they almost certainly wouldn't make it out of this and they all knew it – but he’d also never been more proud of them all.
“They're the Gunpulator System that we had just rejected,” Duke stated. “Our answer to them will be . . . we shall prevail!”
Deckard nodded, his mind finally settled to the task. “Understood. Let’s go for it.” Into the badge, he commanded, “Shadowmaru, take the Boss with you and leave.” He heard the ninja detective's "Roger!" and shut and stowed his badge, cutting off Yuuta's protests.
Having Yuuta and Popkins remain anywhere even remotely within the expected blast radius was simply unacceptable. Yuuta was too precious to all of them – Deckard wouldn't risk it. As much as a part of him felt justice would be served if Popkins were caught in his own calamity (as he clearly expected already), it was not the Brave Police's place to pass judgment, only to make arrests and let the courts deal with the offenders. And more than that, it was their imperative to protect all human life – even someone like him.
"We may be sentient," Deckard asserted grimly as his teammates levered themselves back to their collective feet, the looks on their faces equally grim and determined, "but we are not human. We were built to protect humans. We are the Brave Police." He met the gaze of each of his teammates, then straightened with a salute. "Brave up!"
"Yes, sir!" the group chorused back, matching salutes.
Sniping from cover hadn't worked. Their enemy could hit them, but they couldn't strike back – the drones kept hiding around corners, untouchable. A frontal assault was their only remaining option. The team set up across a wide alley, behind a low barricade that afforded their legs at least nominal cover should they be forced to fall back and regroup again. Everyone braced as they waited for the drones to find them. It didn't take long.
"Fire!" Deckard ordered.
The team let loose and the drones responded, the rapports of gunfire deafening as they echoed back and forth around them. Repeatedly, Deckard flinched back as he took a hit – shoulder, thigh, hip, chest (uncomfortably close to his tank) – but he just reset himself and continued firing. Out of the corners of his vision, he saw his teammates doing the same. The closing drones were taking hits as well, but they didn't seem to be nearly as effective. They'll tear us apart before we do more than scratch their armors. My team will die, and for what? I can't let that happen!
With a wild cry, Deckard hopped the barrier and charged forward, determined to find a weakness, determined to destroy at least one of the drones and set off the chain reaction that would take out the rest before his team died in vain.
"Hit!" he shouted, landing a solid strike that nonetheless bounced off armor. "Hit!!" he screamed again, the shot landing close to the optical shielding. That was it! "HIT!!" he snarled, savage satisfaction washing through him as the red plastic shattered with the impact of his bullet, small explosions deep within showing instantly after. Deckard screamed at his team to dive for cover as that first drone exploded, the others sure to follow in rapid succession. Sound, heat, and concussive force assaulted him, his vision washing white and his audios going silent as his systems overloaded.
And then it all went black.
This is from scenes in the first 8 mins of this ep (part 1 of the ep is here).
Deckard glanced up from his computer and over at Shadowmaru.
"…four…"
From the grimace on the ninja detective's face, Deckard didn't have to ask. He felt his shoulders tighten.
"…three…"
And now Deckard could hear the footsteps.
"…two…"
Deckard turned in time to see Yuuta flinch, then grimace, as he too caught the stomping stride of expensive dress shoes. The tension in the room ratcheted from a two to a ten in an instant.
"…and one-"
"Inspector Tomonaga!"
The whole team jumped despite being braced as Vice-Commissioner Azuma flung open the door and crossed to Yuuta's desk on the second-story platform of their bullpen, his disapproving glower in its best form yet.
Staring down his nose at Yuuta, Azuma demanded, " You asked the commissioner to cancel the upgrade!?"
The Gunpulator System. It was an upgrade that had been revealed to the team yesterday. On the surface, it seemed like a good idea – a firing system that would raise everyone's marksmanship to perfection. And weren't "machines" supposed to perform flawlessly? That was Azuma's thinking, certainly. Never mind that nobody on Deckard's team shot below 98.5% accuracy as it was. Their best was better than any human's, and it still wasn't good enough. That alone was enough to dismay and upset everyone, but the application made it downright horrific. Installing the system meant permanent amputation of an entire limb to install the gun-arm, plus what amounted to brain surgery to integrate the control system. Though they'd been assured that it wouldn't affect or interfere with their Super AI chips, the truth was, no one was actually sure of that. Who knew what it would have done to them?
"Yes, I did," Yuuta was saying. " Saejima-san has requested to abort-"
"I'm hearing none of it!” Azuma’s angry looming made Yuuta hunch back and down. “Inspector Tomonaga, I demand an explanation."
What could he say? "Everyone opposed the idea." Yuuta looked up and out at Deckard and the rest of the team.
The momentarily stunned look on Azuma's face told Deckard that that possibility probably hadn't even crossed the man's mind. "What?" He too looked up at everyone – Deckard felt his shoulders tighten further – then dismissed them to turn back to Yuuta. "That's not a valid reason!"
Deckard knew he shouldn't speak up without permission, but he couldn't hold his silence any longer. "Vice-Commissioner Azuma," he started, stepping forward. When he had the man's attention, he continued. "It is perfectly understandable that you'd be upset." Actually, what he wanted to say was that the man was being completely unreasonable-
He heard Dumpson step up behind him. "But we just can't."
Power Joe shifted up next to his brother, echoing him. "We just can't accept that."
"We don't want it," Drill Boy chimed in, "and that's that."
Shadowmaru nodded. "Yep, that sums it up."
Azuma growled, turning more fully to them. "I'm asking you to explain so that we can understand!"
Deckard felt his fists ball up. What's there to explain? We shouldn't have to!
But that was the proper permission they'd needed to really express themselves, and McCrane did so as succinctly as ever.
"Our Super AI has given us personalities. We are not just machines."
Gunmax was more blunt and nonchalant, as always, shrugging. "Changing our parts just like that doesn't quite suit us."
"We don't want to be treated like objects," Duke added, shifting up beside the biker detective.
Deckard nodded. "We told this to Boss."
"Do you have any idea what you're talking about?" Azuma demanded. "This system would give you robot police 100% accuracy."
"We are aware of that, but-"
"Well, let me tell you. You may have personalities, but still, you are not humans!"
Deckard rocked back on his heels at that, stunned into silence. Not that he'd ever had any question of what the vice-commissioner thought of them, but hearing it spoken outright hurt. More than he would have expected.
Yuuta stood scowling in silent fury at the man.
Azuma noticed and turned just enough to look sidelong down at him. "Is there something wrong with what I said?"
Deckard saw his partner hunch at that, glowering. He didn't respond right away. Maybe he was forming a retort, or maybe he just couldn't answer – Deckard would never know.
WOOM-WOOM-WOOM An alarm sounded suddenly, demanding the team's attention. Everyone shifted around to the massive monitor dominating the wall on the other side of the room. Through smoke and fire, Deckard could make out rows of silos in the video, with some kind of robot tanks approaching the camera – mounted on one of the police scout drones, if he had to guess. The squat attack robots each sported mounted weapons on either side of the body – the limbs looked uncomfortably familiar.
"Suspicious robots sighted at an unmanned plant in the bay area." Deckard recognized the voice as one of the men in Dispatch. "I repeat…"
The team mobilized without a word, grateful for the distraction. Anything to get away from Azuma.
============================
Deckard shifted to bipedal mode as soon as Yuuta was clear of his cab, grimacing at his earlier eagerness for "any" distraction. Considering what these drones were equipped with, he almost preferred to let Azuma harangue and insult them some more.
Then again, this at least, they were allowed to defend themselves and fight back.
"He's got the Gunpulator System," Yuuta reminded Deckard and the rest of the team as they shifted to bipedal mode around him.
'He' was Edgar Popkins, the creator of the awful system…and the one responsible for turning these drones loose on the warehouse district of Tokyo Bay in retaliation for the Brave Police rejecting his "babies". It seemed he was determined to pit his system against the robot detectives.
Grim, Deckard nodded. "We're aware of that, Yuuta." He drew his pistol, his team following suit. He felt his co-lead, Duke, at his back. It helped reassure him a little. Shadowmaru had split off to find Popkins and arrest him before he could escape while the others dealt with the drones themselves. Deckard looked around at the remainder of his team, refusing to think too much about what they were about to face. He saw the same hard determination that he felt reflected back in every face. "Get moving!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Go, guys!" he heard Yuuta call after them as the team bolted into the maze of warehouses. "You can do it!"
To cover more ground, the team split into pairs. Duke had stayed with Deckard, and together, they crept along an alley between warehouses. Deckard paused when he spotted the red glow of optical scanners up ahead. "Duke!"
"Got it!"
The two fired off covering shots, the rapports echoing off the walls around them, as they separated to duck behind corners on either side of the alley.
"Hit any?" Deckard asked.
"Unfortunately, no."
Deckard listened for enemy movement. A moment of tense silence ensued, followed by two shots fired by the drones still down the alley. Pain bloomed without warning as a shot impossibly raked through Deckard’s flank, the damage report flashing red across his HUD. He heard Duke cry out too as the second shot also hit home. But…but how?
Before Deckard could figure that out, the air filled with the rapports of gunfire from both sides and cries of pain, disbelief, and anger from his teammates. He twisted and dodged, firing back as best he could and feeling like he couldn’t even get close. The drones remained somewhere ahead of them, evident from the sounds of their gunfire, but Deckard and his team were getting pounded as if from all sides. That damned Gunpulator System’s “100% accuracy” didn’t just mean on straightaways – the shots were bouncing along crazy angles to hit them from around corners, from above, even from behind!
One shot pounded Deckard’s shoulder from the back, knocking him off his feet. He hit the ground and rolled to his stomach, pistol braced out before him in both hands as he returned fire. This wasn’t working. They needed a new strategy. “Everyone, pull back!”
He heard his team obey amid growls of frustration. Heading for their rendezvous point, Deckard passed between buildings in time to spot Drill Boy and McCrane on the other side. Urging Drill Boy to go, the combat specialist pulled his jerry can from his hip compartment and threw it like a grenade. It exploded like one too, when a shot from the mindless drones ignited the gasoline within. Under the cover of the blast, the Brave Police units were able to regroup.
Hidden for the moment in a side alley near the edge of the warehouse district, Deckard looked over his team. His co-lead, Duke, stood off his left shoulder. Before them, McCrane, Power Joe, Dumpson, Drill Boy, and Gunmax were all on their knees, everyone looking battered and haggard. If Deckard was honest with himself, he wanted little more than to join them as they caught their figurative breaths, but he had to remain strong as an example for his teammates. He suspected Duke was doing the same, though the two of them just as injured and worn as the rest. “Everyone okay?”
Gunmax glanced around and nodded, his usual swagger gone from his voice. “Yeah, somehow.”
“That smokescreen won’t keep them away for long,” McCrane observed.
Deckard started to reply, but two loud, quick beeps interrupted him, followed by Yuuta’s voice.
“Deckard!”
Deckard pulled out his badge, flipping it open to answer the comm. “Yuuta.”
“Shadowmaru has caught our man, but his robots can't be stopped. It seems like the only way is to destroy them.”
Deckard heard manic laughter, followed by a new voice – Popkins. “We will all die if they dare.”
Yuuta’s gasp was audible over the comm. “Eh!?”
“My babies are laden with high explosives. Try to blow up even a single one… They're each powerful enough to send this entire complex up in smoke!”
“What!? Why on Earth are you doing this?”
Popkins laughed again. “If the Brave Police are indeed stronger than my babies, you, I, and all of the Brave Police are going to die!” He broke into laughter once more, sounding completely unhinged.
“R-rubbish!” Yuuta’s voice was strained.
“Mini-Boss.” That was Shadowmaru. “I just took a polygraph. He isn't lying.”
“What?” Yuuta cried.
Deckard felt the servos in every joint in his body threaten to seize at that. But if we don’t destroy them, they’ll just continue to rampage, and they won’t stay confined to the unmanned parts of the city!
“So what should we do?” Yuuta wanted to know, sounding desperate.
Popkins has made this a suicide mission, whether we beat him or not. Deckard glanced up from his badge to Duke, then the others. “Suggestions, everyone?” He might be about to lead his team to their deaths, but not without their input at the very least.
Duke took a brief glance around before replying. “I suppose we're all thinking of the same thing.”
McCrane nodded. “We will defeat them on our own.”
“Of course!” Power Joe rejoined.
“Definitely!” “You betcha!” Dumpson and Drill Boy sounded in.
Gunmax’s usual cocky, wry grin was back in force. “Shame on the Brave Police if we try to run!”
“Guys…” Deckard’s heart had never been fuller for his team. The thought of losing even one of them was almost too much to bear – they almost certainly wouldn't make it out of this and they all knew it – but he’d also never been more proud of them all.
“They're the Gunpulator System that we had just rejected,” Duke stated. “Our answer to them will be . . . we shall prevail!”
Deckard nodded, his mind finally settled to the task. “Understood. Let’s go for it.” Into the badge, he commanded, “Shadowmaru, take the Boss with you and leave.” He heard the ninja detective's "Roger!" and shut and stowed his badge, cutting off Yuuta's protests.
Having Yuuta and Popkins remain anywhere even remotely within the expected blast radius was simply unacceptable. Yuuta was too precious to all of them – Deckard wouldn't risk it. As much as a part of him felt justice would be served if Popkins were caught in his own calamity (as he clearly expected already), it was not the Brave Police's place to pass judgment, only to make arrests and let the courts deal with the offenders. And more than that, it was their imperative to protect all human life – even someone like him.
"We may be sentient," Deckard asserted grimly as his teammates levered themselves back to their collective feet, the looks on their faces equally grim and determined, "but we are not human. We were built to protect humans. We are the Brave Police." He met the gaze of each of his teammates, then straightened with a salute. "Brave up!"
"Yes, sir!" the group chorused back, matching salutes.
Sniping from cover hadn't worked. Their enemy could hit them, but they couldn't strike back – the drones kept hiding around corners, untouchable. A frontal assault was their only remaining option. The team set up across a wide alley, behind a low barricade that afforded their legs at least nominal cover should they be forced to fall back and regroup again. Everyone braced as they waited for the drones to find them. It didn't take long.
"Fire!" Deckard ordered.
The team let loose and the drones responded, the rapports of gunfire deafening as they echoed back and forth around them. Repeatedly, Deckard flinched back as he took a hit – shoulder, thigh, hip, chest (uncomfortably close to his tank) – but he just reset himself and continued firing. Out of the corners of his vision, he saw his teammates doing the same. The closing drones were taking hits as well, but they didn't seem to be nearly as effective. They'll tear us apart before we do more than scratch their armors. My team will die, and for what? I can't let that happen!
With a wild cry, Deckard hopped the barrier and charged forward, determined to find a weakness, determined to destroy at least one of the drones and set off the chain reaction that would take out the rest before his team died in vain.
"Hit!" he shouted, landing a solid strike that nonetheless bounced off armor. "Hit!!" he screamed again, the shot landing close to the optical shielding. That was it! "HIT!!" he snarled, savage satisfaction washing through him as the red plastic shattered with the impact of his bullet, small explosions deep within showing instantly after. Deckard screamed at his team to dive for cover as that first drone exploded, the others sure to follow in rapid succession. Sound, heat, and concussive force assaulted him, his vision washing white and his audios going silent as his systems overloaded.
And then it all went black.
This is from scenes in the first 8 mins of this ep (part 1 of the ep is here).
